Habit Tracking- Has It Been Working For Me?

I’ve been trying to habit track for a long time. For a while I hand wrote charts in my bullet journal and coloured in the squares. But that never lasted more than a week or so at a time. I’ve tried a whole selection of apps, phone lists and spreadsheets but nothing has ever stuck. That is until now. I’ve been using a habit tracker app for about six weeks now and finally I’ve found one that works. Although I do find it quite ironic that I have to get into the habit of habit tracking.

The habit tracking app I use

The app I use is simply called ‘Habit Tracker‘ and has a white tick on a pinky orange background. At the moment sadly it’s only available on iPhone, but hopefully that changes soon as it’s such a good app.

Considering the app is free there’s so much you can do in it. You can create different habits and then select things such as how often you’d like to complete them and whether it’s an any time of the day habit, or one for a specific time of the day. For example I have some habits I want to do daily, some I want to do just on work days, and others less option than that. And to make the whole habit tracking experience look nicer you can set each habit with it’s own icon and colour. If something looks aesethically pleasing I’m definitely more likely to fill it in.

You can then look at a week or month as an overview and work out any consistant gaps. Do you always miss a habit on the same day every week? Is there one week a mon that’s a total write off? The app can help!

How I use a habit tracking app

I’m talk about some of the specific habits I’m tracking below, but I use it to keep myself on track with things I forget to do. But also to help keep me motivated to stick to certain ones. I like being in competition with myself so always want to tick off more habits than the day before. And I hate missing out on a clean sweep by one thing. Plus the app gives you a huge well done when you hit all your habits for a day.

I use the habit tracking app throughout the day and will pop on at lunchtime or when I’m laying in bed. But I also pop on to tick things off when I know I’ve done something. Somehow over six weeks I’ve never missed a day; that’s how I know it’s a good app.

There are also notes sections you can fill in when you go into a habit. I use it to track with classes I’m doing for my exercise goals or anything big that I want to remember.

The habits I’m currently tracking

I wanted to start habit tracking when I realised how little I was going outside. I’m working from home at the moment, we get our food shop delivered and the weathers been grim over the past few months. But it wasn’t until I really thought about it that I realised how many days were passing without me setting foot outside. So initially I wanted a habit tracker so I could tick off going outside for just 10 minutes each day.

Then I decided to add my other exercise goals to the habit tracking app which are:

• Monday- Friday: A spin class every day
• Saturday & Sunday- A misc class every day (I usually do one spin and one pilates)
• Everyday: A strength class

Starting off with my exercise goals was nice, but then I thought about what else I could track. So I added in some food goals, because for me I’m really trying to curb my snacking. I added in two weekday goals for when I’m working:

• No snacking between breakfast and lunch
• A single snack under 100 calories between lunch and dinner

Just tracking these has helped me to work out if there are any days which are harder for me etc.

Other habits I am tracking

But I didn’t want to just be tracking boring things like exercise and food. I wanted to add in some self-care stuff as well to make sure I was doing things for me. And doing things I enjoyed.

The first thing I added in was a habit to read for at least 15 minutes each day. And this is actually my most hit habit, I think I’ve only missed two days in the whole six weeks. I love to read, but sometimes I was just forgetting or not pushing myself to do it. Having it set on my habit tracker helps me to keep on track, and I know if I’ve missed one day I make a bigger effort the next day to hit it.

Then I also have some skincare habits I’m tracking. This includes a face mask every Wednesday and Sunday, and then a sheet mask each Friday. These days work out best for me and having this in my habit tracking app means I actually do it. Whereas some weeks I’d mask three times, but then wouldn’t mask again for a month. I had no track of when I used a face mask, but now I do.

Do you use a habit tracking app?

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